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Portland Flag Association Publication 1

Portland Flag Association “Free, and Worth Every Penny!” Issue 5 April 2005

Responses to the American City Flag Survey

In 2004 NAVA hosted an Internet-

based survey asking its members and

any visitors to rate the design quali-

ties of the 150 flags appearing in

American City Flags. NAVA an-

nounced the results of the survey in

October 2004. Cities across the

country had newspaper stories about

their city flags—often on the front

page. Many newspapers expressed

surprise that their city had a flag.

The newspapers often referenced or

excerpted Good Flag, Bad Flag, listing

its five principles. One common an-

gle was making fun of the word

“vexillology” or of the existence of

an organization dedicated to the

study of flags. Although most re-

porters opted for “flag experts” (the

description provided in our press

release), we were also called flag

“aficionados”, “fanciers”, “scholars”,

“enthusiasts”, and even “freaks”. A

Texas magazine called vexillology

“the fancy-pants term for the study

of flags”. One paper called NAVA

the “The North American Vexil-

lological Society [sic], evidently not a

member of the North American Pro-

nounceable Society…”

Some papers compared their cities‟

flags to those of rival cities, especially

within the same or neighboring

states. A few even derided distant

competitors, such as when the New

Orleans paper said that Denver‟s flag

“looks like a bad 1970s wall hanging”

and the flag of Portland, Oregon

“resembles a floor tile”.

The press generally didn‟t pull

punches when flags were ranked low.

TV stations in Utah opined “When

you acknowledge the Provo city flag,

you might want to put your hand

over your eyes instead of your heart.”

Other papers wrote “Our flags are

ugly” [Chesapeake and Virginia

Beach] and “Raleigh has a bland old

flag”.

Very occasionally a newspaper

joined in the defense of its city‟s flag.

In Salem, the Statesman-Journal reeked

of sour grapes: “Portland flies the

seventh-best flag in the country. Sa-

lem‟s flag ranks 51st. That‟s just fine.

Who really cares about city flags?” It

did publish my letter to the editor in

response, which asserted that “…

Salem would be better served by a

(Continued on page 2)

Responses to Flag Survey 1

April 2005 Flutterings 3

Did You Know? 3

Some Flag Related Websites 3

Next Meeting Announcement 4

Flag Society of Australia 4

The Flag Quiz 5

Cascadian Flags 6

Separated Brethren 7

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

“Better, forty times better, my banner

than my sword.” — Joan of Arc

And her banner has been returned to

her statue in Coe Circle (NE 39th &

Glisan) in Laurelhurst. If you wish to compliment the editor, or to contribute in the future, contact John Hood at

503-238-7666 or [email protected]. If you wish to complain, call your mother.

By Ted Kaye


newspaper arguing for a world-class

city flag, rather than implying „our

flag may be crummy, but it doesn‟t

matter‟.”

City officials had varied responses.

When the flags fared well, they were

enthusiastic. When flags fared

poorly—a much more common oc-

currence—officials usually either de-

fended the flag or insisted they had

higher priorities. But in some cases,

officials were surprisingly open to

change and improvement. The

spokesman for the mayor of top-

ranked Washington, DC, said “Wow,

that‟s a nice compliment…There‟s a

very powerful argument that the

most powerful and poignant icons

are the simple ones.” Chicago Mayor

Richard Daley‟s press office issued a

statement saying “We are proud that

Chicago‟s flag has been given such

an honor because it represents the

origins of our city as well as its great

history and pride.”

Among those who staunchly de-

fended their flag was a member of

the Baton Rouge city council when it

adopted a flag that devotes most of

its field to the name of the city.

“What do they expect for us to write

on it? Bogalusa or something like

that?” The spokeswoman for

Charleston, S.C. said “If that‟s the

worst thing they can say about us,

that we have an icky flag, then go

ahead. We can take it, we‟re tough.”

Occasionally an official‟s defense

was more passionate than informed.

(Continued from page 1)

Responses to Survey For example, “„It‟s our flag and we

like it, that would be my first

thought,‟ said [Mobile‟s] Mayor Mike

Dow [about the flag], which he sub-

sequently could not definitively de-

scribe.” “„I think it‟s a fine flag,‟ said

[Pierre‟s] Mayor Dennis Eisnach,

who discovered the flag after being

asked about it.”

Some attacked the survey process

itself. “This is nuts,” said Mayor

Raul Martinez of Hialeah, “This is

one of the stupidest things I have

ever heard in my life—people judg-

ing flags.” Councilman Jim Lane,

who helped design Fort Worth‟s new

flag, said that the NAVA survey

“sounds to me like a Yankee conspir-

acy”.

But in many cases, officials were

surprisingly open to change and im-

provement. Provo‟s spokesman said

of the low score earned by the city‟s

flag, “Quite frankly, we agree with

their conclusion…We‟re certainly

open to suggestions.” In Akron, the

mayor‟s chief of staff and the city‟s

spokesman “acknowledged the flag is

a failure. „We agree that the present

flag sucks,‟ they said in unison, using

the scientific term that the vexillolo-

gists skipped in their critiques.”

In Cedar Rapids, the city hall

spokesman thought that perhaps the

flag ranking was “an opportunity…it

might be nice to have a flag that

could promote the city, [and] that

businesses would want to fly.” Even

its designer had tried to persuade

Cedar Rapids to improve the flag

he‟d created as a high school student

in 1960. Last-place Pocatello is cur-

rently working on a new flag. The

chairman of its chamber of com-

merce, Mark Hunter, said “I don‟t

know what the five principles of de-

sign are, but I‟m hoping the guy de-

signing the flag does.”

But some newspapers called for im-

provement. The Nashville newspa-

per ran a facetious contest for a new

city flag which produced a winner.

In Kansas City, the newspaper spon-

sored a contest which received 250

entries, and NAVA judges selected

the winner. In Mesa, the newspa-

per‟s contest received 131 entries.

Readers chose the winning design,

which was adopted as Mesa‟s official

flag.

All in all, the survey gave NAVA a

vast amount of exposure across the

U.S. through intensive press cover-

age—often on the front page—in

over 100 cities, and it initiated several

efforts to improve city flags.


Once more there seemed to be more

to talk about than there was time al-

lotted.

Mike Hale went to Florida and rather

than a T-shirt, he brought back a flag

of The Conch Republic! Due to a

governmental road block on the

highway from Key West to the

mainland in 1982 that caused a dis-

ruption to the tourist trade, the is-

land seceded from the U.S., surren-

dered and asked for foreign aid! He

also passed out new catalogs from

his store and then led a discussion on

the flags of Cascadia (see related arti-

cle in this newsletter).

Ken Dale brought a 4” X 6” flag of

West Linn, the city he lives in, which

is just across the river from John

Schilke‟s home in Oregon City. We

don‟t have an image of that flag, but

it is pretty much a label on a bed

sheet. John, however did bring a

news article with a black and white

picture of a newly adopted logo for

Clackamas County. It has great po-

tential for a flag if the lettering is re-

moved.

Ted Kaye showed us the German

Vexillological Association‟s Newslet-

ter, the DGF. He also had a copy of

David Hackett Fischer‟s book, Liberty

and Freedom which studies these

American visions of an open society.

There has been enough fallout from

April 2005 Flutterings You Need to Know

North American Vexillological Association http://www.nava.org

Flag Institute (United Kingdom) http://www.flaginstitute.org

Flags of the World http://www.fotw.net

Elmer‟s Flag & Banner http://www.elmersflag.com

Darwin‟s Flagman (Australia) http://www.nationalflags.com.au

Flag Society of Australia http://www.flagsaustralia.com.au

Some Flag Related Websites

the “American City Flag Survey”

that Ted is doing a piece for Raven

that speaks to the responses he ac-

cumulated from various city offi-

cials and he shared that with us (see

related article). Lastly, Ted played a

DVD for us of the incredible flag

collection of Ben Zaricor that was

displayed at The Presidio in San

Francisco. An attempt is being

made to make it a permanent fix-

ture.

Scott Mainwaring has made several

redesign suggestions of the Oregon

State flag and has promised an arti-

cle next time, after we have further

discussions .

rally and defeat the pagan Estoni-

ans in 1219.

Yet another legend tells that the

red hand of Ulster on the North-

ern Ireland flag came from the

race to lay claim to the island. He

who touch land first won. An

O’Neil was slightly behind, so he

cut off his hand and threw it

ashore.

Legend has it that the Austrian

flag was derived from the tunic of

Duke Leopold V which in the bat-

tle of Ptolemais in 1191 was com-

pletely bloodied except where it

remained white under his wide

belt.

Another legend has the Danish

flag, perhaps the oldest national

flag, falling from the sky to King

Valdemar, inspiring his army to

Did You Know?


July Meeting

The next meeting of the Portland

Flag Association will be at 7 p.m.,

Thursday, July 14, 2005, at Ted

Kaye‟s house, 2235 NW Aspen Ave.,

telephone (503)223-4660. See the

map below.

We look forward to seeing those of

you that have been otherwise com-

mitted, and hear some new war sto-

ries, see some different flags, and

hear some provocative discussion.

In addition, bring an idea for a new

Oregon flag. Thanks to Scott Main-

waring, we have several more to dis-

cuss.

It‟s not too early to be making plans

for NAVA 39 in Nashville, TN, Oc-

tober 7-9. See the NAVA website

for details.

Since Harry Oswald moved to Texas,

he certainly has become the very

model of a modern vexillologist

(apologies to G & S).

Here he is resplendent in his vex-

ment, obviously a veximavin and

probably a closet vexoholic! Notice

that the Texas flag is over his heart

and the Portland flag right next to it.

Texas Harry

We feel remiss in not helping the

Flag Society of Australia to celebrate

the 21st anniversary of their founding

on August 20, 1983. From the pic-

tures in Flagmaster, a good time was

had by those gathering for the cele-

bration and commemorative dinner.

Several members, including our sepa-

rated brother, Ron Strachen, plus Dr.

Whitney Smith and Nozomi Kari-

yasu (Japan Vexillological Associa-

tion) attended. The Eureka Stockade

Museum (see the last Tabloid) was

also visited by some of the attendees.

It‟s good that the folks “down un-

der” have retained such a vibrant

organization and continue to publish

an excellent magazine, Crux Austalis.

Flag Society of

Australia Turns 21!


What was that flag? Answers to January’s quiz

They say to keep it simple, but very

few flags are simpler than these —

what are they?

What’s That Flag?

Bruges, Belgium

This is probably the Brabant Lion

from the 12th century that the son

of the Duke of Brabant changed

from gold to blue. It could also be

a design brought back from the

crusades called The Saracen Lion.

Tamil Eelam

This is a part of Sri Lanka that has

been attempting independence since

1972. The tiger has always had sig-

nificant meaning to the people.

Berlin, Germany

Probably came from Albert the Bear,

the 12th century Margrave of

Brandenburg, which is near where

Berlin came to be a century later.

Qaanaaq, Greenland

This is the northern most

community in the world, established

in 1953 to move natives away from

the Thule Airbase. There are also

narwhals on the coats-of-arms of

Nunavut and Northwest Territories.

St. John Ambulance

Founded in Jerusalem in the 12th

century to aid pilgrims during the

crusades. The lion and unicorn are

also supporters on the Royal Coat of

Arms of the United Kingdom.


Cascadian Flags By Mike Hale

It‟s not a nation or a language group,

but it spans two countries, seven

states and two provinces. It is not

defined in any atlas or gazetteer, but

can easily be identified on a large

scale topographical map. This

anomaly has come to be known as

Cascadia and is the area roughly in-

cluded in the Cascade Mountain

Range of North America, the water

shed of the Columbia and Fraser

Rivers. An area that shares a similar

economic base: lumber, tourism and

fishing.

Many flags have been proposed for

this imaginary boundary, but for me,

most are so abstract as to have no

clue to help identify the flag with

Cascadia. The place itself is abstract

and tentative, therefore the flag

needs to be more concrete. Stars

and waves are clever devises in the

Flag of the Kingdom of Cascadia,

designed by Karen and Andrew

Rogers. This horizontal bicolor has a

circle of stars that divide Cascadia

into seven commonwealths. It is

reminiscent of the European Union

flag. No relevancy or meaningful

symbolism exists to connect it with

the region or its landscapes or exist-

ing flags. There are also variants for

the Naval, Governor‟s Ensign, and a

separate Royal Ensign for the King.

The Flag of the Republic of Cas-

cadia, by Rick Wyatt, uses wavy

stripes and a bicolor canton of green

and red with a sunburst similar to the

British Columbia flag. There are

Northwest symbolisms here for

Puget Sound, Pacific Ocean, green

forests, red volcanism, western sun-

sets and, finally, the fir cone. The

flag seems to have a canton superim-

posed on the waves and is bother-

some in its placement. The elements

are just not cohesive. For manufac-

turing, the use of four spot colors is

expensive to reproduce. The website

is satirical and more silly than seri-

ous. This flag is the most commer-

cial with T-shirts and other merchan-

dise for sale.

Nick Pharris‟ Design, the “Eight

Star” Cascadian Flag, has more

relevancy using colors and elements

from the flags of Alaska, British Co-

lumbia, California, Idaho, Oregon,

and Washington. The eight stars

represent eight major cities in the

region, including Fairbanks to Med-

ford. The waves resemble the old

Estonian SSR Flag. The flag uses

four colors, again expensive to repro-

duce. The devices work well to-

gether. It is a memorable flag and

fits the region. This may be a close

second to Dirk Schonberger‟s flag,

which I favor.

The Cascadian Flag of the Cascad-

ian Institute, designed by Dirk

Schonberger, is influenced by the

map of Cascadia (see above), drawn

by David McCloskey of the Cascad-

ian Institute. “Mappy” flags (as

coined by Mason Kaye) are usually

silhouettes of states, or islands com-

plete with shorelines or border de-

tails. This map simply makes a broad

gesture stroke. The stylized map is

also a believable nautical shape, an

orca‟s fin or a boat‟s sail. The Cas-

cadian Institute recognizes and de-

fines the region economically; there-

fore, inclusion of the map is para-

mount on their flag. The waves

(Continued on page 7)

Cascadia Region

Flag of the Kingdom of Cascadia

Flag of the Republic of Cascadis

“Eight Star” Cascadian Flag


Cascadian Flags

highlight the Pacific Ocean, Puget

Sound, straights, bays and inland wa-

ters. The whole design is simple,

cohesive, convincing, and could be

drawn by memory by a child. At

only two meaningful colors, it‟s less

expensive to produce. Of all the

flags, this scores the highest on the

Kaye Standard (as put forth in Good

Flag, Bad Flag).

Other flag proposals exist, including

the Cascadian National Party with

two stars limited to Oregon and

Washington States. John Phillip‟s

design, with waves of green and

white on a blue field is a clean de-

sign but again, it has only limited

relevancy. It includes only two states

and is not representative of the entire

region, but limited to a political en-

tity.

If Cascadia were to need an actual

flag, the Cascadian Institute Flag best

sums up the region. It is distinctive

(Continued from page 6) It seems that we have acquired sev-

eral vexillologists to our mailing list.

It is good to get responses from total

strangers (friends we haven‟t met

yet) . It certainly expands my hori-

zons to hear from people in Darwin,

Australia; York, England; or

Okemos, Michigan! Any or all of

you are welcome to contribute a tid-

bit to this newsletter. I‟ll use what I

can and save the rest for discussion

at one of our meetings. And by all

means, if any of you plan on visiting

this wonderful upper left coast, allow

me to introduce you around. Mike

Hale has the largest flag store in

America, Ted Kaye is the editor of

Raven, Doug Lynch designed the

Portland City Flag (seventh best in

the nation), and I have what has been

referred to as “The Flag House,” be-

cause I always fly three flags from

the second story windows, chosen

according to my „Occasions to Fly

Flags‟ data base. Feel free to contact

any of us if you are in the area.

Cascadian Institute Flag

and relevant to the region. Even if

we never get such a republic, one can

legitimately ask, why does the train

end at the border? Why not a coop-

erative region with excise taxes fa-

vorable to the region? Regardless,

Cascadia is a state of mind; a way of

life here in the Pacific Northwest.

Michael Hale, has a Graphic Arts Degree from Port-

land State University, designs and consults on flag

design and production, and owns Elmer’s Flag and

Banner, in Portland, OR.

Editor’s note: Ted Kaye proposed a flag for

Cascadia in about 1990 that is eminently

simple. The Cascade Mountains; three

peaks, probably for Oregon, Washington,

and British Columbia; green for the forests;

blue for the water/sky.

Ted Kaye’s Proposed Flag

Cascadian National Party

Separated Brethren

This is the editor’s way of filling space!

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